Albatross

My toes were buried in the sand as I stood and looked out over the ocean towards the yellow-peach painted sky that kissed good night to the last crescent of the sun. The waves lapped the beach covered in seaweed and broken shells smoothed by the ever beating tide. The whispering evening breeze tussled my hair and promised a cool night ahead despite the heat of the late day sun that had reddened my face and shoulders.

I spied a tiny dark spot in the sky that seemed to lazily move towards me as if it were a leaf carried on the breeze. Slowly the spot grew larger and thin lines trailed off to each side as the spot seemed to rise higher in the sky. Slowly the lines would move, almost unperceived.

The sun quickly dipped below the horizon and the painted sky quickly faded to black, but in the last rays of the sun a large white bird painted by the setting sun glided overhead as it came home to roost for the evening.

Traveling far out over the ocean, what sights it must have seen. Had it struck fear or hope into sailors as it passed overhead? Had it traveled to the edge of the horizon and back?

In the darkness I shivered against the breeze, my face still warm from the kiss of the sun, and I began to walk to the little path that had brought me to the beach. My head down, hands in my pockets, I passed under the now twinkling stars that came as quickly as the darkness.

My mind wandered as I walked and looked up at the stars. Tonight I would spread my arms upon the grass and glide along the evening breeze. Then I would see the world anew. I will watch the stars pass overhead and will not return home until the sun rises and chases the stars away.